The first movie was the serious story of a potential ecological disaster, a horrifying look into a bleak future just 5 minutes away. Scientists across the globe were all in agreement that if we don't start to take global warming seriously then this is what is likely to happen to us. Many people referred to Sharknado as the logical successor to An Inconvenient Truth.
Clearly the above paragraph is a load of old balls!
Sharknado was firmly in the 'it's so bad it's good' category. But it was a hell of a lot of fun. It helped that the cast seemed to know that they weren't making Shakespeare, and they just had a blast with the whole nonsense of it all.
To catch you up with the story, in case you missed the first dose of Shark/Tornado madness (shame on you!): When global warming triggered a freak weather system in Los Angeles the result was a mega tornado that scooped up some angry sharks and span them towards land. That makes sense, right? As the sharks twist and turn in the sky, occasionally attacking innocent children and consuming hot blondes, panic ensues. As it would! Eventually our hero, Fin Shepard, is swallowed by a flying shark, fortunately he'd packed his chainsaw and managed to cut himself out along with 'hot blonde'! Huzzah!!
Sharknado was produced by Asylum pictures, who have a long history of on screen Shark shenanigans. There's 2 Headed Shark Attack, Mega Shark vs Mecha Shark and Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus to name but three. But Sharknado took things to the next level and became a social media sensation when broadcast last Summer on SyFy, clearly a sequel was always gonna happen.
In Sharknado 2: The Second One Ian Ziering (you'll remember him from Beverly Hills 90210) returns as Fin Shepherd, and Tara Reid (you'll remember her from American Pie) is back as hot blonde (I seriously don't remember her character name, but IMDB tells me it's April Wexler). The duo pack up their chainsaw and head for Manhatten where a new Shark/Tornado based adventure awaits.
They will be joined by people you may remember, including Vivvica A. Fox (you'll remember her from Kill Bill) as Fin’s old high school friend, Skye, Mark McGrath (the ex-lead singer of the group Sugar Ray which I vaguely remember) as Fin’s brother-in-law, Kelly Osbourne (The Osbournes) as a flight attendant, Andy Dick (I've got nothing!) will play a NY police officer, Judah Friedlander (oh yes, 30 Rock, I quite liked him) is set to play somebody called Brian, and Judd Hirsch (you'll remember him from Taxi) has been cast as a taxi driver, natch.
The original director, Anthony Ferrante returns for the sequel. The screenplay has been written by Thunder Levin (now there's a name for you, if anyone knows extreme weather conditions it's Thunder!). In Sharknado2: The Second One a freak weather system turns its deadly fury on New York City, unleashing a sharknado on the city’s population and its most iconic sites. Fortunately Fin and hot blonde are in town, and they set about saving the city.
Sharknado 2 is currently filming in New York. Take a look at a few of the behind the scenes pictures...
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| Ian Ziering's audition for West Side Story was wasted on the production team |
I was tempted to photoshop this next picture so Judd Hirsch was holding a fishing rod instead of the rope. If they don't include a scene of him landing a shark from the roof of a NY cab I'll be disappointed...
By far and away my favourite picture that has come out of the recent fliming in New York is this one...
A chubby man holds a plastic shark. Chaos ensues. Sharknado 2: The Second One lands on SyFy this July, will you be watching?
